Check out alevo’s latest:

We must think globally in order to stop the influence the tobacco industry has in developed countries like Canada and the United States. Local health legislation may curb tobacco use in our communities, but it does not reduce the economic growth potential for the tobacco industry worldwide.

Tobacco manufacturers have a business model with one objective: to replenish the ranks of people addicted to their products. Every day, tens of thousands of their customers die and thousands quit.

Unlike any other business, the tobacco industry manufactures a product that it knows will eventually kill most of its current customers, and their business model reflects that knowledge. The tobacco industry requires new customers every day in order to stay in business; it needs new markets and new customers daily.

You can read the full article on Raise the Hammer. If you wish to comment, please do so there.

[tags]health, tobacco, regulation[/tags]

This is Bush speaking on the situation in Lebanon. Click here to play the clip (20 secs).

Recorded from the Democracy Now! broadcast of July 19.

[tags]Bush, Lebanon, Israel[/tags]

Robert Howard at the Hamilton Spectator wrote an editorial on the conflict in Lebanon:

Israel has reacted with force in its war on Hezbollah, consistent with its long-standing policies that military efforts must be forceful, even overwhelming, to defeat enemies. It has not been indiscriminate in its attacks, but innocents have died nonetheless. There is never any good excuse for civilian casualties, but Hezbollah must share the blame for sheltering in residential neighbourhoods.

(Full text available here.)

I wrote a letter in response:

Re. “This isn’t just a border clash” by Robert Howard, July 18, A15

Robert Howard’s editorial reads like an Israeli press release: no matter what Israel does in Lebanon, it’s not Israel’s fault.

But regardless of who started this latest conflict – and it should be pointed out that Israel still imprisons Lebanese citizens in addition to 9,600 Palestinians, has regularly violated Lebanese airspace since its withdrawal in 2000, and has refused to give the Lebanese government a map of the 400,000 land mines it planted in Southern Lebanon – all parties have a responsibility to minimize civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

As of July 18, Israel has killed at least 215 Lebanese, all but 14 of them civilians. The dead include 20 Lebanese, including nine children, who were fleeing Marwaheen in civilian vehicles after being warned by the Israeli military to leave, contradicting Mr. Howard’s assertion that civilian casualties are a result of Hezbollah’s “sheltering in residential neighbourhoods”. Where, one wonders, was Hezbollah sheltering in this convoy of refugees: in the trunks?

It’s true that Hezbollah and Hamas are a threat to peace and security in the region, but they are not alone in this distinction. Israel’s dramatic escalation of the conflict, utter disregard for the lives of civilians, and continued annexation of Palestinian land makes it clear that Israel is not interested in a lasting, compromise peace any more than the Islamists.

I’ll let you know if it gets published.

[tags]Israel, Lebanon[/tags]

Israel has bombed and killed seven Canadians who were vacationing in southern Lebanon:

Seven Canadians are dead, six of them possibly members of the same Montreal family, after an Israeli air strike in Lebanon. Three more were seriously injured.

The Department of Foreign Affairs did not release their names.

However, reports said the dead included a family of four children, their mother, and her husband’s uncle. They were vacationing in Aitarun, just 50 kilometres south of Beirut.

Israel’s reckless escalation of the conflict has now cost the lives of more than 100 civilians in Lebanon, including an estimated thirteen people who fled their village after Israeli loudspeaker warnings urged them to do so:

In one attack, apparently on vehicles full of families trying to get away from the bombing, an estimated 13 people, including eight children, died when a truck and a car were incinerated by an Israeli air attack.

The small convoy was carrying people evacuating the village of Marwaheen after Israeli loudspeaker warnings to leave their homes. Seven of the dead were from a single family, according to eye-witnesses including a photographer from the Associated Press, Nasser Nasser, whose pictures show bodies, including a baby, scattered on the road.

More on this situation later.

[tags]Canada, Israel, Lebanon, politics[/tags]

I was emailed a link to a piece called China’s Crackdown on Falun Gong after posting about the chilling report that China is ‘harvesting’ organs from prisoners:

Nearly a decade after it was outlawed in China, the mysterious movement known as Falun Gong is struggling to survive government persecution. What is the movement about – and why does it frighten Chinese authorities?

The article goes into some detail about the movement’s origins, current status in China, and its philosophy, which is something like a mixture of traditional kung-fu (or tai chi, or qi-gong) and Scientology. It’s worth the read.